(CNN) - I have to give Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman some credit. He has the guts to suggest specific changes to the nation’s Social Security system – changes that are politically treacherous.

For a politician, whether Democratic or Republican, that’s always dangerous, given Social Security’s popularity, especially with older Americans who rely on it. And remember: older Americans vote in much higher percentages than younger Americans.

soundoff(3 Responses)

Everyone knows that SS has problems that need to be fixed. Come up with good, workable solutions to make the program work better, and people will be more than happy to have those changes.

September 16, 2011 04:32 pm at 4:32 pm |

Sniffit

"he said that richer recipients don’t really need a Social Security check at all. "

Go back and listen to Obama's speeches and press conferences again, Blitzer. He has all but said the same thing but it's only "news"-worthy and "daring" and "gutsy" when a GOPer says it? In fact, I can point you in the correct direction: when asked by one of the reporters at a recent (within the past couple months) press conference whether he'd consider means testing, Obama's answer was not only to indicate that he would, but to suggest that what it would mean to be "means testing" in his mind is that we'd be cutting off benefits for people who have absolutely no need for the program despite having paid into it. The implications of his answer were clear as day, but the MSM outlets either (a) ignored it or (b) tried to get progressives mad by purposefully mischaracterizing it as Obama suggesting the type of means testing that most GOP want to happen, i.e., the kind that would grossly reduce benefits to middle-class recipients. The reality is, were we to means test and chop off the eligibility at a certain point based on need, then adjust the FICA ceiling slightly upwards from $106,800 to, oh, say somewhere in the $150K-$200K range, AND perhaps bargain a little by raising the retirement age by 1 year...then run the freekin numbers...I bet we don't even have to get to the point where we're asking people who actually need SS to take less in benefits. These suggestions shoudl all be prioritized in a manner that makes the least damaging changes first, as opposed to the crap people like Ryan want to pull.

September 16, 2011 04:32 pm at 4:32 pm |

vic , nashville ,tn

“He has the guts”
The problem is we seen these guts in many candidates once they won the election we don’t know what happens to their guts we like candidate Obama than president Obama

Compare to other candidates Jon Huntsman best candidate in GOP side can he win the primary another question

Nearly 60% people age 65 or older depend on social security as main income we have to consider that same time we have to make slow and small changes on social security